The highly specialized work force in modern economies must be carefully allocated to service tasks so that workers may perform in areas in which they have the training or skills to perform effectively. Allocating workers to appropriate service tasks is a manual process, requiring substantial amounts of time from both the workers providing service and the supervisors who manage the workers.
The manual steps required to allocate workers to service tasks is illustrated in the following technical support example. A computer user experiencing technical problems with their computer calls a computer support company. The call is routed to a help desk where a help desk worker asks a series of questions to identify the computer user's specific problem. If the help desk worker is not able to identify the specific problem, the caller is transferred to a supervisor or other higher level worker who will attempt to identify the specific problem. Once the problem is identified, the supervisor or other higher level employee goes through a manual process to decide who will be dispatched to provide service to the computer user.
These manual steps to identify the service needed and to allocate a worker to the service task are costly for both the computer user and the computer support company. The computer support company devotes valuable time for lower level workers and supervisors to evaluate the service needed, and to assign a service operator to the problem. The process is also costly for the computer user who pays for the time spent identifying the service needed and assigning the appropriate service operator to the problem. The same or similar manual steps are likewise required when allocating service operators to service tasks in a wide range of fields other than computer technical support.
To overcome some of these limitations, remote access desktop technology allows computer users to access and control other computers at remote locations. GoToMyPC® is an example of software that allows a service operator to remotely access a computer over the Internet. This technology typically comprises two software components: a program running on the remote computer, and a program running on the local computer. Remote desktop access technology allows the service operator to control a remote computer as if sitting in front of the remote computer. The service operator can run applications, access files, change configurations, or debug problems, for example.
The GoToAssist® product provides another example of remote desktop access technology. GoToAssist® provides functionality similar to GoToMyPC® but adds additional features such as the ability for an administrator to review connections and manually select the computers to be connected. GoToAssist® also allows a supervisor to review information about remote computer connections while computers are connected.
Existing remote desktop technology increases service efficiency by eliminating the need for a service operator to physically travel to the computer user's location. However, all the manual steps described above still need to be performed to determine which service operator will provide the necessary support service over the remote desktop connection. The overall process is, therefore, still highly inefficient.